In this book, published in the United States as The Discovery of Middle Earth, the author of the Duff Cooper and Ondaatje Prize winner The Discovery of France uncovers evidence of one of the world's great civilizations. Celtic society once stretched from the Black Sea to the Scottish Highlands, and produced some of the most advanced artistic and scientific achievements of the Iron Age, until it was crushed under the "civilizing influence" of the Roman Empire. Tracing ancient routes and towns, Graham Robb finds the precise astronomical and mathematical world mapped out by the Celts, and overturns much of what we think we know about early European history.

"One of the most astonishing, significant discoveries in recent memory ... [recasts] early Europe and its barbarous Celtic tribes and semimythical Druids. Popularly dismissed as superstitious, wizarding hermits, Robb demonstrates how the Druids were perhaps the most intellectually advanced thinkers of their age: scientists and mathematicians who, through an intimate knowledge of 'solstice lines,' organized their towns and cities to mirror the paths of their Sun god, in turn creating 'the earliest accurate map of the world.' In his characteristically approachable yet erudite manner, Robb examines how this network came to be and also how it vanished, trampled over by a belligerent Rome, which has previously received credit for civilizing Europe—though in Robb's account, Caesar, at the helm, appears dim, unwitting, and frankly lucky, and the (often literally) deeply buried Celtic beliefs and innovations seem more relevant in modern Europe than previously assumed. Like the vast and intricate geographical latticework that Robb has uncovered, the book unfurls its secrets in an eerie, magnificent way—a remarkable, mesmerizing, and bottomless work."—Publishers Weekly (starred review and Pick of the Week)